The ancient Romans have considered two statutes, a temple, a roof-top garden, two tombs and a lighthouse to be the seven great man-made wonders of the world. Six of these wonders have long been destroyed, some by nature and some desecrated by human. Only the great Pyramid of Giza still stands in its original form and is now the oldest wonder, built about 2560 BC.

(1) The Hanging Garden of Babylon

This garden, built by King Nebuchadnezzar II in about 600BC, was a mountain-like series of planted terraces. The whole garden covers 2,500 acres. The walls of the garden are 22 feet thick and 55 feet high. The bricks use to build the garden are enough to connect from earth to moon. The garden was destroyed by nature. Babylon is the Capital of Babylonia, which is now known as Iraq.

(2) The Statue of Zeus at Olympia

To the ancients, Zeus was the god of the sky and ruler of the Olympian gods. The statue of Zeus was built by the Greek sculptor Phidias in mid 5th century. The statue was made of ivory and gold and it stands nine metres (30 feet) tall. It was the central feature of the temple of Zeus at Olympia, Greece. Olympia was the ancient site for the Olympian Games.

(3) The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

Artemis is the goddess of childbirth, of nature and of harvest in ancient times. The temple, which was 60 feet tall, was built in 356BC. It was later destroyed by the Goths in AD262. Ephesus is in Greece.

(4) The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

These 140 feet tall monumental marble tombs, built in 353 BC, was decorated for King Mausolus of Caria in Asia Minor. Halicarnassus is now known as Bodrum, situated by the sea in Turkey.

(5) The Colossus of Rhodes

This was a 30 metres (100 feet) bronze statue of the Greek sun god Helios, erected about 280 BC to guard the entrance to the harbour of Rhodes, in Greece. The building of this statue takes 12 years to complete. The statue was destroyed about 55 years later by nature fall.

(6) The Pharos at Alexandrian

This lighthouse, built in the 3rd BC, was located on an island in the harbour of Alexandria, Egypt. This lighthouse was built with marble and was 134 metres (440 feet) tall. The purpose of building this lighthouse was life for ships as ships from 35 miles off the shore are able to see the lighthouse. It was destroyed in the 14th century.

(7) The Great Pyramid of Giza

This 42-storey high pyramid was built with 230 million limestone rocks in 3000 BC, in Northern Egypt. It took 100,000 workman and 30 years to compete the work.

The Seven Wonders of the world are seven works of art and architecture regarded by the ancient Greek and Romans observers as the most extraordinary structures of antiquity.

Note: Information are taken from the Reader’s Digest’s video tapes borrowed from the Jurong Community Library.